Blog # 32

My Beloved 77 Bloggees (Welcome Brian, Stephen, Coach Dale, Coach George and Bebe):

 

 

The Gators played like a late March team Saturday night against Arkansas. The defense led by Kenny Boynton was suffocating, especially guarding the Hogs' three-point shooting phenom Rotnei Clark, denying him the ball. Boynton (with his radar threes and textbook assists) and Vernon Macklin's scoring in the paint lifted the Gators to a phenomenal start in the first half offensively. The entire team then adopted the killer instinct in extending the lead. Patric Young was relentless on the boards and at times, his play reminded me of the nickname of former professional wrestler, Bobby Duncum Sr., the "One-Man Gang". NEXT

 

 

 

 

It is always great when Mark Wise does the color for a televised Gator game. His insight from living in Gainesville and being around the program for so many years, frequently enhances the regional telecast, just like on Saturday night. His wife, Mary Wise http://www.gatorzone.com/volleyball/bios.php?year=2002&bio=wise.html , has been the outstanding Gator volleyball coach since 1991. NEXT

 

 

 

 

Kudos to both head coaches in Saturday's Alabama 68 - 58 victory at Auburn in a game much closer than the score http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101220028 . Tony Barbee showed once again his Auburn squad is capable of playing with intensity at home, especially outrebounding the Tide 34 - 24. The War Eagles are just hapless on the other end of the court.

 

Anthony Grant had the task of leading the Tide to overcome the winning euphoria that was on the Auburn campus earlier in the day with 78,000 cheering on the national football champs in a memorable ceremony.  Also, the football Iron Bowl Trophy was presented at halftime. Seeing Alabama struggle so much against Auburn does help some Florida fans understand a little why Thursday's night disappointing Gator performance (but still a win) happened on the Plains....Auburn is starting to play some tough, tough defense.

 

Speaking of Grant, he was the speaker at the Birmingham Tipoff Club today http://www.birminghamtipoffclub.com/ . He just exudes class and as mentioned in previous blogs, should be in Tuscaloosa for a long time.  Next Monday, Tony Barbee will be speaking.  Birmingham bloggees should consider joining the Club and attending. NEXT

 

 

 

 

The Gators play at Georgia on Tuesday night on ESPN at 7:00. Having lived in Atlanta from 1979 - 1995 I made a few trips to Athens for this annual matchup. I was a member of the Atlanta Gator Club whose slogan is still "Deep in Enemy Territory" and it is so true being less than 90 minutes away from the home of the Red Clay Hounds (thank you Leonard's Losers) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Postero . (I usually don't include Wikipedia links, but this is right on).

 

The rivalry meant so much to me, that when I drove fellow Gators to Athens for the game they were not allowed to buy concessions at Georgia's Coliseum. You see, proceeds went to my heated rival's Athletic Association, so no food for any of us during the game. The water fountains were always quite busy near our section.

 

There have been some memorable moments for me in the "previous century" regarding the Florida - Georgia games in Athens. These immediately come to mind:

 

1. In the 70's the Gators' Malcolm Cesare lost a tooth due to a dangerous elbow from the Dogs' Lucious Foster.

 

2. In the 80's the Gators went without starting point guard, Jose Ramos who was kicked off the team a day before the game during practice in Athens. Ramos had a verbal confrontation with then fiery Gator coach, the late Norm Sloan. Warning....the next link describes the incident but contains R-rated profanity http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-03-02/news/a-shakey-machine/4/

 

3. In the 90's the "Thin Finn",  6' 11' Marti Kuisma went off against the Bulldogs draining a multitude of threes in a Gator victory. By the way, also on that Gator team was Svein Dyrkolbotn, the "Norwegian Collegian" (you have to love that nickname). The Orange and Blue definitely had a Scandanavian flavor. NEXT

 

 

 

 

In a previous blog I mentioned that I didn't recall ever seeing a player who shot 10 or more three-pointers and made none of them. That was until Andre Stringer of LSU accomplished that task against Kentucky, a week ago Saturday, shooting blanks on all 10 three-point attempts. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/97045 .

 

You can add UAB's Jamarr Sanders to that list after he duplicated Stringer's futility in the Blazers' 76 - 73 painful overtime loss to "their daddy" (thank you, Pedro Martinez http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/pedro-martinez-whos-your-daddy-video-2009-world-series-chant-2504839.html ), Memphis on Saturday http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101220034 .Sanders was not the only UAB player who had a tough time deep. His other teammates were 2 for 13 for a grand total of 8.7 %. It is quite amazing they even made it to overtime. NEXT

 

 

 

 

UCF? What has happened? You beat Florida and then you go south in Conference USA with a 1 - 4 record? You lose to an           8 -10 Rice at home, Saturday night,  57 - 50 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101220103 ? Marcus "son of Air" Jordan has been in a funk lately, including going 0 - 5 (but 10 for 12 from the freebie line) in the Rice loss. By the way, Rice was led by Connor Frizzell who was mentioned in a prior blog...so envious of his 90.2 % free throw shooting.

 

Former Florida assistant and current UCF coach, Donnie Jones, needs to regroup the troops before their upcoming "murderer's row" of C-USA opponents--at Memphis, UAB and at UTEP. Donnie, we are pulling for you, as is the Gators' RPI. THAT'S IT

 

 

 

Enjoy and thanks for all the feedback....keep spreading the word,

 

 

 

Barry